Thanks for putting your review out there. Thought I'd just make a couple of remarks.

On the AI, specifically Brute behavior, I've had somewhat different experiences and come to a different conclusion about their behaviors. Depending on my actions and terrain, some Brutes have been pretty aggressive-- attempting to flank me, get behind me, take an alternate route through an area and surprise me, or get close to me, drop some equipment (usually a power drainer) then run to a safe distance.

However, I think it's still endemic to games in general, and not just Halo 3 in specific, that units are spawned in certain areas and tend to stay in those areas; that most units are placed on the map for the specific purpose of reacting to the player, and are incapable of doing more than scripted actions or mirroring your actions back to you.

If you sit back and wait, that's what they'll do. If you draw them in they will follow you, but only to a point. You may say the the unwillingness to hunt you down even when they have superior numbers is a fault, but I'd say it's a necessity given that we're talking about a game and not reality. If there was nowhere you could run to to rest, rearm, and recharge your shields, and you were still outnumbered, the game wouldn't be any fun. To make this seem more realistic, the designers put features into map areas to explain why units hang around-- usually things to guard. Infantry are around to make sure you don't just walk up to a tank and board it. They're there around stationary guns so you don't just walk up and destroy them. They block your access to switches and key installations because they've been ordered to.

Brutes, acting the way you describe, are essentially repeating the Elite AI behavior from Halo 1. They stay in cover, fire when they can, and then go suicide when their shields are gone. But that's not all they do.

There is, of course, a way to play Halo against fearsome and relentless opponents who are clever and unpredictable... and that's the multiplayer mode :)

Regarding the story... it's hard for me to comment, as someone who has spent so much time over the years thinking and writing about Halo's story. It all does make sense to me, and the parts that don't aren't supposed to be obvious. However, that's probably because I fit into the "halo fanatic" category, at least with respect to story.

All I can say is that Bungie does not have a history of spoonfeeding story. If people want to ignore it and just shoot things, they're welcome. However, puzzling out what's going on is not a simple matter of just not pressing A when the next cutscene plays. Cutscenes in Halo 3 are shorter, like Halo 1's. As a side note, try to see the cutscenes with commentary that's on the Essentials disc; it's interesting to see how, while Halo 1's cinematics are great and tell a tight story effectively even with all the combat sequences removed, Halo 2's tells a rather rich story, and it hangs together better as a CG movie than the game does as a game. However, it was a common complaint that Halo 2's cinematics were too long. Rather than people absorbing them in, the longer scenes made it more likely that people would skip them to get to the gameplay, and thus have less of an idea of what is going on than if they had seen a short cutscene.

Halo 3's cutscenes and interactive sequences do the minimum necessary; they get you in and out of levels. I think it is quite intentional that they are shorter.

As for the switching alliances, this only takes place once in Halo 3; it's remarked on by the characters in the scenes, and frankly it's something that is quite predictable given the end of Halo 2:

[spoiler]Gravemind solicited the aid of both the Arbiter and the Master Chief in Halo 2. Given that at the start of each game, the goal for both Gravemind and the Chief/Arbiter is to stop the prophet-led Covenant from firing the rings, a temporary alliance makes sense to both sides. So, just as you helped Gravemind by seeking out Delta Halo's index and stopping Delta Halo from firing, now he helps you reach Truth and stop him from activating the array.

The real question, of course, was-- what happens next? I often wondered if Halo 3 was going to have a twist where you join sides with the Flood permanently-- where you decide that giving in to them is marginally better than killing every living thing in the galaxy. That's not the way Bungie went with that-- but an earlier character in the Haloverse did make exactly that decision. For that story, read the seven Terminals on Legendary difficulty-- the contents are different than on Heroic or below.[/spoiler]

Of course, everyone goes off to play multiplayer and forgets about the campaign, but if you really did like Halo 1's story, don't give up on Halo 3 just yet. There's a very interesting story being told there that is beyond the Chief and Arbiter chewing bubble gum, kicking ass, and running out of bubblegum. You do have to dig a bit to find it, though-- and that's purely intentional.

You can't "revirginise" yourself... and Halo 3 can't, either. Halo 3 can't replicate the Halo 1 experience simply because it is the third, and not the first. We have preconceptions, understandings, and knowledge now of the story and mechanics we didn't back when there was only one Halo.

So expecting Halo 3 to be Halo 1 again is dooming the title to inevitable failure.

-- Steve wouldn't have minded more time in the cutscenes to develop the story further, but is cognisant that there are those who just want to get on with the killing bits.